LittleBigPlanet 2
Creative types who also own PS3s (a rather small intersection on the Venn diagram, I would guess) will be excited to hear about the release of LittleBigPlanet 2. Much like the first LittleBigPlanet, the new game is centered around, and perhaps relies upon, user-generated content. I’m a creative type, but I don’t have a PS3, so I have to admit that I never played the first one. Apparently you could make soft-core porn and fly planes into New York with it? As this is the sequel, players will be given the tools and freedom to be even dumber. You won’t be restricted to just making new levels for existing games—apparently players will be able to create entirely new gaming experiences by fundamentally modifying the game engine as they edit. As in any user-content driven experience, 90% of what’s created will be novelty-sized phalluses, but that other ten percent has potential. Almost every gamer also wants to be a game designer, and it’s always interesting (if not necessarily “good”) to see what these players come up with when empowered with tools that lower the barrier to entry in the design arena. Of course, it can never give them the freedom they would have designing a game from scratch, but then it wouldn’t be much of a game in and of itself anymore.
Magic: The Gathering - Tactics
The Icrontic Spotlight this week glares off of the silver-backed card sleeves of Magic: The Gathering – Tactics. This most recent attempt to turn the Magic: The Gathering world into a video game look to be the most well-considered. Fans of the CCG are already familiar with the deep mythology of the game, which takes place in a world where magic is divided into five colors, and planeswalkers (sorcerers) battle for supremacy across a blasted landscape, recruiting the denizens of the land to be pawns in their never-ending battles. Tactics takes the idea of MTG, and adapts it for a real video-gaming experience, where players do not have to be limited by the small scope of cards on a table. As in the CCG, players fight with magic and creatures, for which they can purchase “booster packs” to bolster their library (called a “spellbook” here). Each player enters the battle with a spellbook containing a limited number of spells, creatures, and mana sources. Here the similarities seem to end, however, as the playing out of the battle takes on, as the name suggests, a much more tactical feel than the CCG. Creatures and spells are cast onto a tactical grid, where placement becomes very important—both to combat between the creatures, and to spell casting (creatures set closer together will be easier to hit with spells, for example.) The really promising thing here is the pricing model. Sony Online Entertainment has chosen to set up the game on micro-payments: Each player can download and play the game for free using a “starter pack” of spells. Everyone will have access to as much play as they’d like against any opponent around the world, as well as the first single-player campaign. Beyond this, players can make one-time payments for the “booster packs” and for additional single-player campaigns. In addition, the game will allow organization of structured tournaments and even drafting (my personal favorite way to play the CCG). If you’re looking for a non-RPG MMO with an intuitive pricing model, and a theme with proven staying-power, you will want to give this one a download.
Following is a full list of this week’s announced North American releases:
Windows
- Magic: The Gathering – Tactics
- Venetica
Wii
- Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time
- Urbanix
DS
- Alien Puzzle Adventure
- Animal Boxing
- Glory Days – Tactical Defense
- Plants vs. Zombies
- The Mysterious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
- The Seller
- Touch ‘N’ Play Collection
Xbox 360
- Mindjack
PS3
- LittleBigPlanet 2
- Mass Effect 2
- Mindjack
PSP
- Lord of Arcana
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